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This study jointly examines the social innovation potential and spatial competitiveness of Hungarian municipalities in terms of competitive advantage and competitive disadvantage. The primary focus of our study is on the link between the factors of social innovation potential and spatial competitive advantage. Based on the social innovation complex index of municipalities and its components, we analyse the spatial pattern of social innovation potential in the country using cluster analysis and explore the possible causes of spatial disparities based on social innovation.

The objective of this research was to examine the mechanisms of FeCO 3, Na2CO3, and FeCO3-Na 2CO3 based catalytic coal gasification of a low-sulfur sub-bituminous Wyodak coal from the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Wyoming. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Mössbauer spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) were used to perform the analyses. Use of composite catalysts for coal gasification overcomes some of the limitations of the standalone use of Na or Fe catalysts. The XRD results are consistent with interactive mechanisms or the formation of Na-Fe oxides as the catalytic pathway. Mössbauer spectroscopy indicated the presence of metallic iron and cementite in the char at different stages. The Fe catalysts were better at tar decomposition than the Na catalysts, as indicated by GC-MS analyses. NMR spectra confirmed that tar compositions vary with the catalytic mechanism. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of high yields of aromatic components and long aliphatic chains in the tar. Composite Fe-Na catalysts provide a method to tailor the amounts and composition of product generated during gasification. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The topicality of our research topic is justified by the significant change in traditional grassland management in the grassland areas of the Pannonian Basin. Due to several factors, the proportion of fallow grassland, and in parallel of over-exploited pastures, is continuously increasing. In the medium term (11 years), the effects of fallowing (Z), annual mowing (M), mowing and grazing (meadow treatment M + G), and permanent overgrazing (OG) as treatments on the population structure of grassland plants were investigated in a semi-natural grassland community in the Solonyec soil. It was found that the lowest degradation rates in the studied grassland biotope were obtained for the treatment presenting the utilisation pattern of mowing the main grassland phytomass followed by sheep grazing of the coltgrass. The highest degradation levels, which threatened the condition of the grassland community, were measured for the treatment presenting overgrazing with sheep at the end of the experimental period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Management & Quality / Zarządzanie i Jakość is the property of Scientific Society of Organization & Management / Towarzystwo Naukowe Organizacji i Kierownictwa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Due to the drastic change in using the nature like grassland association (one-sided overgrazing - one mowing per a year), by the third year of the experiment in every area, where overgrazing stopped, independently on second sowing and nutrient resupply, Borhidi degradation degree decreased. In the areas where overgrazing with large animal density (sheep) continued, degradation degree was 3.4-5.0 by the third year of the experiment, and Hordeum murinum, which causes animal healthy problems, appeared massively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Területi Statisztika is the property of Hungarian Central Statistical Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We carried out a study in the Karcag Research Institute, which affected the areas of narrow-leaved silver willow. In the framework of this research, we performed Balázs's coenology, and thus established the degree of Borhidi degradation, which resulted in the fact that the areas of the silver willow were degraded practically irreversibly, the diversity of the grassland has decreased. We consider it very important to study these grassland areas of silver willows, as they can provide an additional fodder base for sheep grazing, which will also incr ease the sustainability of the grassland. The obtained soil analysis results show that the soil samples of the silver willow areas are richer in nitrogen (p-value: 0.006) and phosphorus (p-value: 0.003) than the examined control area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We determined the elemental profile of 16 edible mushroom species from the Făget Forest, near Cluj-Napoca, and of 12 species from the Apuseni Mountains. One-way ANOVA showed no difference in the elemental content of mushrooms when the two regions were compared. Some species accumulated high amounts of trace elements, i.e. Boletus edulis (Ag, S, Zn), Macrolepiota procera (Cu), Lactarius volemus (Co), Russula emetica (Mn), Armillariella mellea, and Chantarellus cibarius (Cr). The cadmium content was the highest in the case of Leccinum scabrum and Boletus edulis. These two species presented elevated risk levels for all age-groups when they are consumed regularly.

Perceptual narrowing--a phenomenon in which perception is broad from birth, but narrows as a function of experience--has previously been tested with primate faces. In the first 6 months of life, infants can discriminate among individual human and monkey faces. Though the ability to discriminate monkey faces is lost after about 9 months, infants retain human face discrimination, presumably because of their experience with human faces. The current study demonstrates that 4- to 6-month-old infants are able to discriminate nonprimate faces as well. In a visual paired comparison test, 4- to 6-month-old infants (n = 26) looked significantly longer at novel sheep ("Ovis aries") faces, compared to a familiar sheep face (p = 0.017), while 9- to 11-month-olds (n = 26) showed no visual preference, and adults (n = 27) had a familiarity preference (p less than 0.001). Infants' face recognition systems are broadly tuned at birth--not just for primate faces, but for nonprimate faces as well--allowing infants to become specialists in recognizing the types of faces encountered in their first year of life. (Contains 2 figures.)

Sheep fleece became problematic Europe-wide for many reasons, including its very low price. From an animal welfare standpoint, the thick fleece may cause discomfort for the sheep as it can be a welcoming environment for parasites and may cause heat stress during hot summer days; therefore, annual shearing is necessary for most sheep genotypes. Physiologically, growing fleece and maintaining normal body temperature to decrease heat stress distract resources from producing valuable products such as meat. Thus, we aimed to compare the fleece production of two meat-type sheep genotypes from South-France, Berrichon du Cher (Berrichon) and Blanc du Massif Central (BMC), which have relatively little fleece production but thrive in the local Hungarian weather. Furthermore, we fill the gap by providing data on the fleece production of meat-type sheep in Hungary. A total of 180 sheep ewes were included in the data collection (N=99 Berrichon and N=81 BMC). Data was collected at the annual shearing by a digital scale measuring the weight of fleece originating from the back and shoulders. Student’s t test determined the differences in fleece weight between genotypes. Significance was set at P<0.05. The average fleece production of BMC ewes was 1.66 kg, which was significantly (P=0.0001) less than that of Berrichon ewes (2.14 kg). Based on the results, further study is needed to study the performance of BMC ewes with little fleece and their lambs’ in order to improve performance indices and increase profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]